Organic, After All
by Clichesbullet
Summary: The biggest surprise of all, even after ending up together of all things, was probably Leo finding out that Reyna had a beating heart and was, after all, human. Some Leyna short stories I did for fun. Snippets from their life together and all the mayhem it comes from that.
1. Inorganic Life Forms Don't Get Jealous

**Organic, After All**

**Author's Note: **_I must say I haven't dropped the ball on Leyna yet and, even if it right now it looks like they won't even meet, I'm still surprised by the paralels between the two of them (even if, right now, it's mostly about how lonely the two of them are as people). Anyway, because someone on tumblr mentioned they wanted Leyna fics about their antics as a couple, I decided to scribble some short stories. Just for fun, no real canon explanations or anything. Consider it AU or something. Also, 'cause I suck at fluff, this is probably corny as hell. _

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming__  
__Or is this burning an eternal flame_

**Inorganic Life Forms Don't Get Jealous**

Leo wished his creations would stop falling in love with Reyna. He had no idea as to why this happened but even Festus would stop paying attention at him whenever the praetor walked into the engine room with her purple robes and golden armor.

"Well, _people_ do say I act very _robotic_." She said matter-of-factly in her always-so-calm tone after he had just muttered to himself about Buford not being of much help if he kept running to greet her every time she showed up to check on things. "Maybe they just think I'm one of them." She patted the walking table gently and sat on the corner to watch Leo work like she often did when things got too boring for her to deal with at the Legion. Immediately, five or six of his helping automatons rushed in her aid, almost running over each other to see who would get to bring her a beverage. Leo rolled his eyes.

"I said that _once_." Ok, he was lying. He had said that a few bazillion more times than that. "And we were _fighting_! Won't you drop it?"

Reyna's eyes showed no trace of real anger, but then again, they never showed much of anything – _pretty much the main reason he even said the robot thing in the first place – _but he kept the thought to himself. She smiled as she took a tall glass of orange juice from a (now slightly lopsided from all the fighting) automaton and then turned back to Leo with a serious face:

"Drop it, you say?" She stared at him a little more, he looked back at her and they were silent for a while, measuring each other. Her eyes suddenly opened wide and she bobbed her face stiffly to the side as she said in a robotic voice: "In-for-ma-tion-de-le-ted. Pzz. Pzz."

Leo scowled.

He wished he'd stop creating things in a way they couldn't help falling in love with his girlfriend.

* * *

_Don't forget to add a review and make me happy 3. Suggest ideas as well :) _


	2. Watch Your Language

**Organic, After All**

**A/N: **_Have I mentioned these are not exactly chronological? Cause, like, they totally aren't._

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming__  
__Or is this burning an eternal flame_

**Watch Your Language**

Leo found out Reyna could speak Spanish the hardest way.

They'd been sitting in a café in New Rome talking about strategy and, admittedly, he'd been way more interested in her face than in her vast knowledge on maiming monsters, therefore, he wasn't surprised (well, not entirely at least) when the scalping hot coffee ended up on his pants.

It was still surprising enough for him to curse. Loudly.

"_¿Cómo?" _She said and_ h_e froze immediately. It wasn't enough to face the irony of being able to summon fire from the tip of his fingers and still get burnt from something as silly as coffee, but now he couldn't even react to it freely in his mother language.

"You speak Spanish?" The words shot out from his mouth so fast due to the shock that he almost forgot for a second that he was injured.

"Sí." She responded raising both eyebrows at him in her usual unaltered tone. And then, after a nanosecond of silence, she seemed to realize the despair in his voice and a little smirk crept in her lips – barely noticeable. ""_Fluído."_ She added.

Leo stared at her in absolute shock. She spoke it _fluently._ How could've missed that?

"Ok." He said, trying to keep calm. "I understand I should not have cursed in front of you." He breathed in and out. "First 'cause you are a queen or something."

"A senator." She corrected him shrugging.

"Yes, that." He was starting to feel nauseous and kicked himself for even trying to talk to girls anyway. "And second because you're like, you know…" He stared at her. "Well, because, we…"

The evil smile was still playing on her lips, like daring him to finish that sentence.

"I really need to change my pants!" He was doing this pathetic dance because of the pain. "And I'll be back if I don't run away in shame and, yeah, like – stay there and don't hate me, please."

He grabbed his tool belt, hoping he'd manage to get some clothes out of there and made a run to the restroom.

He had come back wearing purple pants (the only thing his belt would give him) and found her staring outside the café through the window. He took his sit again in silent and tried to act cool even though the shame was crashing him.

_She hasn't left_, He told himself, _that's a good thing. _He thought about how Hazel had told him once that what she liked about Frank wasn't the fact that he was always embarrassing himself – like Leo had just told her – but because he'd always find a way to own up and come through to what he had just done, Frank wasn't ashamed of staying there and listening to the laughter.

Leo prayed that Reyna had that in common with Hazel and tried to ignore the little voice in his head saying that it was easy for Frank to own up to shame because he could always turn into a bear and eat people.

"So, hm." He drank from a glass of water the waiter served them while he was away. "Spanish, huh? Who would ever guess?"

"I thought I had mentioned I was Puerto Rican." She looked back at him again at last and he wished silently for a hole to appear on the floor.

"Yes, you did." He gasped a little on the water. He wasn't getting anything right today. "But you also said you worked in Circe's Island since you could remember."

Reyna sighed and looked almost uncomfortable. Leo wished he hadn't opened his mouth. At this point, he almost wished he hadn't left the engine room at all. If it wasn't for the fact that being with her was good even when it was bad, he'd be dead by now.

"Well," She took a sip from her chocolate and sighed, almost nervously. "A praetor has to study all different sorts of things. I took my time learning, it was still the language of my country, plus – many of the lost people came speaking Spanish. The Spa was in the Caribbean after all." She took another sip before she spoke again.

"I studied really hard and for a long time." She said once again and it sounded almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

It wasn't until a year later, when Leo was fixing her tv, that he realized in just how much crap he had believed.

"You studied really hard?" He rolled his eyes at her as she walked into her apartment in New Rome to find him sitting on her couch with a root beer on his hand. He pointed towards the TV. "Over sixty hours of recorded _telenovelas_ on your queue and you tell me you've _studied really hard_?"

He had expected her to look at least a little ashamed but she had no business lying to him anymore. She took a sit next to him and said:

"You better not have deleted any of it." Leo smiled and handed her a root beer of her own.

"Nope, just catching up with the final chapters of this one. Care to join me?"

* * *

_Leave a review and keep me writing these! :) I mean, c'mon, the review box is literally *right there* :D_


	3. Burn Marks

**Organic, After All**

**Author's Note: **_Is this a dirty one? Yes, yes it is. Hihihi. _

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming__  
__Or is this burning an eternal flame_

**Burn Marks**

He knew he had a problem the first time she leaned forward and placed the smallest kiss on his lips. His hair was on fire before she even stopped.

It was both humiliating and dangerous and he felt horrible but all she did was raise both eyebrows and sigh:

"I should probably have guessed that would happen." And like that, she walked into her apartment and left him at the door with nothing but a smile and a "We'll see each other again tomorrow." His face was burning but this time not literally.

He had finally managed to kiss her – even it was more like the other way around – and that had to happen. Leo should learn how to control himself.

He never did, of course.

He was sitting on her table, eating the breakfast burrito he had just cooked for himself when she appeared already covered with her armor and toga. It had been ages since that kiss and Leo liked to think of himself as a much more controlled man now. He was mature, he was in a serious relationship and girls didn't make him nauseous anymore.

Well, not the ones who didn't wear full battle armor on the breakfast table, at least.

"You're still eating?" She said as she sat with the pancakes he had left prepared for her. "I thought you had a meeting with Jason this morning."

Leo laughed.

"It's hardly a meeting." He said not before swallowing the big bite he had just taken, Table manners were one of the few things that got Reyna to forget her diplomatic attitude. "We are just going to talk about a plan he has and…"

"It's important to be punctual." She waved him off and through her bracelets he caught a glimpse of the marks.

"Please tell me that wasn't me." He said grabbing her wrist to take a better look. She seemed to just take it notice then.

"Oh, that." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, no, that wasn't you. That's the other man I'm seeing who tends to burn up when I kiss him." Her face when she said that was completely straight and Leo took a second to process her words before he scowled.

"You really shouldn't try being funny. It's really not your strongest suit." He said, still holding her arm. Reyna smiled:

"Not yours either but you do it all the time." Leo sighed and stared at her wrist again, blushing.

"Was this…?"

"Yesterday." She took her wrist back and started eating her pancakes. "And before you go on a needless guilt trip; they don't hurt. I have some on my shoulders and neck as well. Well, I can't keep count of them." She shrugged and Leo stared at his plate, feeling very much like uncontrolled boy instead of the mature man he had thought he was just a few seconds ago. "They - don't - hurt." Reyna snapped a finger on his face, to get his attention. "It's hardly a problem. I've got used to this a long time ago. I think it's cute."

"_Cute?_" He mimicked her in absolute horror. "Reyna, my lack of control is exactly what jeopardized the war against the giants, what got my mother killed and…"

"Leo, those are completely different things." She seemed annoyed even though her tone was still cold and controlled as she ate her pancakes. "They happened in very different situations and hardly at the same intensity…I mean, I'm pretty sure you didn't…"

"Oh, stop." He raised his eyes from the plate to point a finger to her face, his ears burning a little. "Don't start to explain anything. We really don't need that." Yes, a boy, he was definitely a boy.

Reyna shrugged:

"That's a surprisingly not-Greek attitude towards it."

Leo threw his face at the empty plate in front of him.

"Let's _not_ talk about that." He could almost hear her roll her eyes as she stood up and put her plate on the sink. He actually heard her chuckle before she said:

"Will it make you feel better to promise me you won't ever lose control again?" He looked up at her:

"I will. I promise." She made a face.

"Regardless of me telling you these are no problem and that it's ok and that it doesn't bother me and that it doesn't hurt and that it's kinda…" She stopped mid-sentence. "…_Cute_. Even then, you still need to promise me you will control yourself and never, ever again, lose control of your powers when you are with me?"

"Reyna, it's the only way I can be ok with myself."

She sighed, defeated and taking a final glance at the sink, she said:

"Ok, whatever you say. I'll do the dished when I get back. You – " she walked towards him and stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders. " Make sure you get over yourself." She then leaned forward and kissed Leo's neck gently.

His hair burst into flames. She giggled.

"You're a moron." And kissed him once again. "I love you, now hurry up and finish your breakfast."

* * *

_I already wrote three out of five stories I had in mind. Please review and you can suggest me something as well. Feel free to, if I like it, maybe I'll write more than five. :) Unless you're all hating it, then whatevs, I'll stop. ahaha *tears* _


	4. Candy Crazy

**Organic, After All**

**A/N: **_Leo wins a fight for once. Or loses. Or something. Also, Reyna's weird when no one's looking. _

**Organic, After All**

Am I only dreaming  
Or is this burning an eternal flame

**Candy Crazy**

If anything, Reyna doesn't doubt herself enough. Leo knows she's insecure sometimes and he finds it absurd. Mostly because she tends to be insecure about the wrong things like whether or not she's pretty or if she has what it takes to rule Camp Jupiter.

Leo thinks that's nonsense. Reyna should be questioning the other things, the ones that are relevant to questioning. Like her ability to cook, for instance. And by ability, he means the lack of it.

The thing is, Reyna is not used to being bad at anything. She's naturally beautiful and she's calm and corrected and classy and perfect beyond measure. She's good with weapons and strategy and one on one combat – but oh gods, please don't let her near an oven.

He walked into her apartment and the dogs danced around his knees happily. Leo patted them on the head and, to his absolute terror, found her checking a cook book.

"I made us dinner." She smiled at him, her long braid made into a knot on the back of her head.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that." He tried not making a face but failed. She stared at him, purposely ignoring his comment.

"I made spaghetti." She stated. Leo approached her and sighed.

"It's not spaghetti if the sauce is chocolate, Rey." First there was the lack of ability: burning ovens that Leo ended up changing for magical ones, broken plates, innumerous melted pots – that was hard enough. And second came the sweet-tooth.

As serious as she is and looks, Reyna has a real problem with sugary things – if you think about it, he considered, the signs were always there: a work table covered in jelly beans, the love for hot chocolate. She even named her Pegasus after peanut butter – but Leo took his time to realize.

"It's not chocolate." She added, exasperated. "I know it didn't work out the last time so I won't try it again."

"So what? Jelly? Caramel?" He dared take a look at the pan, she slammed the lid loudly before he could see:

"_Carbonara!_" She glared at him. "Honestly, one would think you think I'm some sort of _invalid_."

He kissed her forehead:

"Never." He smiled. "Invalid people are perfectly capable of making nice dishes, whilst you," he thought the "whilst" made him sound posh, like a parody of Reyna. "well, you, my dearest, you can't."

He had finally gone too far. She narrowed her eyes at him in a way she only did when she was about to snap. It was a scary sight even if, for Reyna, snapping was more like an icy breeze than a real explosion.

"Then leave." She pointed towards the door. "You don't want to eat what I'm cooking, so go." She shrugged but Leo knew she was doing her best to sound collected. He rolled his eyes and took a sit at the table.

"No." He sighed. "You know I can't leave." He smiled. "You say you cooked, I stay, we eat your food, we puke, next month you're trying again. That's how it happens."

She crossed her arms.

"I don't need you to." She wasn't playing the victim, she really didn't need him at all, Reyna wasn't looking for affirmation. She actually appreciated her own food and, in her eyes, it wasn't as much trying as it was "showing off". "You prefer when you cook, so…"

"Oh, definitely." He nodded. "I'm a natural while you, well, not so much." He crossed his arms. "But you like to cook and I like that you're stubborn enough to not admit you suck and just ask for help, so…"

She served him a plate before he could finish the sentence and sat in front of him, arms crossed.

"I really hope you puke." She pointed out as she poked at her own food with a fork. "I'm a good cook."

"Reyna," he begged through a full mouth. "There are jelly beans in your _carbonara_ sauce."

"I know." She seemed to not be bothered at all. The fact was, Reyna had a weird taste. She liked all those awful things she came up with.

Romans had the weirdest habits sometimes.

"Can I just teach you? Once, please, like, just so we can try it out and…"

"Eat your jelly beans, Valdez."

They were quiet for the rest of the meal, at least 'till Leo had to stand up and go puke in the restroom.

He had his head on the toilet when she offered him tea.

"No, I can't let you brew it yourself. You'll put a box of marshmallows inside it or something." She sat next to him on the floor and handed him a cup.

"Don't be silly. You can't ruin herbal tea." He took it gladly after this afirmation.

There was too much sugar.

He didn't say anything though, it wouldn't help at all. Plus, he could like her weird taste, it was probably the only reason he was even there.

She caressed his hair while he puked again.

* * *

_Don't forget to review and I'm sorry about all the puking. _


	5. Emotion Sickness

**Organic, After All****  
**

**A/N: **_We've learnt some pretty important things in MoA such as Leo gets car sick and Reyna can drive. If that's not essential information, then I don't know what is._**  
**

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming__  
__Or is this burning an eternal flame?_

**Emotion Sickness**  
Leo had had his share of uncomfortable encounters with pretty girls and, more often than not, most of the girls he hit on ended up trying to murder him, you know, literally. Needless to say, his nerves weren't at their best when the purple Camp Jupiter van pulled by the Argo II that morning.

"A _van_?" He walked towards the car. "You said a _car_, I assumed you were talking about a _real_ one." He said as he pulled the passenger's door open. Reyna rolled her eyes:

"Will you cut the Vulcan child thing? I'm exhausted already." As Leo turned to reply with "You mean Hephaestus" in the snarliest way possible, he had to stop with his mouth open, trying to let the image in front of him sink in.

Reyna wasn't wearing full battle armor and a toga. Hades, her hair wasn't even knotted in its usual side braid. He had always assumed the armor and the posture were what made him so terrified of her but now that he was staring at her looking nothing different from a regular camper, if anything, he had gotten more intimidated. She wasn't even wearing anything special, just some official camp jumper with shorts and some flat boots, her hair was down – she looked like a regular camp counselor instead of the almighty senator. Except she wasn't just a regular camp counselor; she was Reyna and earlier that week she had agreed to spend her day off with him just wandering through New Rome and that made no sense at all.

Unless, of course, it ended with her trying to murder him, then yes, it would make a little sense.

He had no idea how the whole thing had started. He remembered how one day she'd dropped by the engine room of his ship and how she just stood there. She had told him being around machines made her more comfortable than being around people. That the sound of the work shop was better than the voices of everyone and their troubles going to her for aid. He hadn't expected her to be there and he wasn't expecting her to be so upfront about her "non-praetor" side.

Since then, they had spent some time talking about Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, their families, machines, the war against Gaea. It wasn't exactly all that deep, just small, bitter comments that the other manage to understand because they were in similar situations.

So last Wednesday, when Reyna mentioned she'd finally gotten a day off to read a book and relax, Leo had said "Or we could just go out and act like normal people", he wasn't really expecting for her to bite that. Yet she did.

Leo knew, however, that even right now, when she wasn't dressed as regular Reyna and there were no machines around them that they weren't alone. He knew she liked Jason and that his best friend's ghost was already casting a shadow so big, he'd never be a clear image in front of her.

It was ok; he didn't see Reyna like that at all. She wasn't someone he liked that way, no, she was – like she had said once – a kindred lonely spirit. So they feed of each other's pain to stay alive. He had thought she was being negative but he enjoyed how dark she could get when no one was looking.

"Ugh." He put a hand over his mouth.

"I thought this car had not enough horses to impress you." She didn't get her eyes off the road. "So, why does it have enough of them to make you sick?"

"It's not that." He knew he was getting pale. "Cars always make me sick."

"Well, isn't that precious?" She smiled the evil smile he'd soon grow familiar with. "What would Vulcan say?"

"_Hephaestus._" Leo corrected her through gritted teeth. "And he wouldn't say anything; he's not the most present of parents." He got a glimpse of her looking at his direction for a second and then staring at the road again.

"I suppose he isn't." She sighed. "Do you want me to slow down? Do you want a cracker? I think we have some on the glove compartment for the campers who get motion sickness." She could have said for the younger kids, but she didn't.

Leo was munching in on a particularly salty cracker when he remembered he could always grab some Ginger Ale from his tool belt.

Altoids, Mentos, Trident, Winter Fresh – one more brand of mints coming out from his belt and he'd throw himself into a pocket and disappear. He told himself again: Reyna is a kindred lonely spirit, not a real girl.

He caught himself staring at her, not in amazement or anything just in pure despair. She didn't even glance his way all the time he looked at her. It took her two minutes before she pulled the break and turned to look at him:

"You look terrible."

"Thank you, you look stunning." She rolled her eyes and opened their windows so the air could get in. He knew he had sounded sarcastic but it wasn't a lie.

"Look, we don't need to go anywhere. You look like you are about to pass out."

"Nnnnng." Was the only sound he could make at first. "No, it's your day off, you don't get a lot of days off when you rule a camp this size."

"You're right but we could do something else some other time." She shrugged. "I could go home, read a book, or we could…"

"No." He tried to get the car running again from his seat. "We are going somewhere. I'm not a puny demigod. I may not be a son of Jupiter, but I'm strong and…"

Oh, he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Not a son of Jupiter? Why in Pluto would you have to be a Son of Jupiter?" She didn't sound phased or angry, not even ashamed. Her voice was blank. Leo bit his upper lip before he spoke again:

"Look, we both know, I'm not the company you really wanted, right?" He tried to sound cool with it but the breath mints in his pocket wouldn't let he lie about where he thought things were going. "We both know I'm not some serious, strong, conceited yet-oh-so-charming Roman, don't we?"

Reyna stared at her knees but she looked as if she was thinking instead of feeling coy.

"I mean, don't get offended, it's not a problem that you don't like me. Like, we don't have to like each other or anything, I'm just saying; even when we spend all the time in the world together and that we have fun together and that we become real good friends, I will still have this terrible flaw." He sighed:

"I will always _not be_ Jason."

Reyna didn't say anything. She rolled the windows up again and started off the car. Leo knew he had said something bad but, when she started to make a u turn, he couldn't manage to say he was sorry. He was used to losing after all.

They were quiet on the whole way back. She stopped in front of the Argo II and unlocked the doors. Leo felt like crawling his way back to the ship and dying and never showing up again but instead, he gathered all the courage he could manage and said.

"Look, Reyna, I don't know what happened." He was already halfway out of the car when he said that, just in case he needed to run away. "I just get really cranky when I'm in a car. Blame it on the ADHD or something and….And I get awful when my stomach hurts. That was the nausea speaking not me."

She looked at him, her face expressionless and said:

"I thought so." She shrugged. "That's not why I'm dropping you off." They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. "I'm dropping you off 'cause the car clearly makes you sick so maybe it's better we just go out tomorrow for somewhere inside camp." Leo opened his mouth to protest but she didn't let him:

"We can go to this café I like and you can buy me a huge cup of chocolate to make up for your stomach rudeness. And then we can talk about your issues."

Leo looked down in shame.

"I'm sorry I brought that up." He said.

"It doesn't matter, I thought it was intriguing." He looked up at her. Almost offended. His issues weren't _"intriguing"._ To his surprise, Reyna laughed:

"Your terrible flaw." She said turning the car on again. "You're right about that, you'll never be Jason." Leo felt his stomach sink and almost felt nauseous again. "But then again, that's also your best trait: _you will never be Jason._"

Leo wasn't sure he understood anything anymore but something inside him snapped and he was pretty sure he had crossed some sort of line. Maybe the direction this was going was something he had not considered 'till then.

The mints weighed a ton in his pocket as Reyna waved a final "bye" and left.

Tomorrow they'd go to a café, he'd buy her chocolate and he wouldn't screw things up. He promised himself.

He did though; he dropped coffee in his pants. And then cursed real loudly in Spanish.

* * *

_Not sure how I feel about this one but don't forget to review, leave a suggestion and all that. :) _


	6. Tequila is not like Oil

**Organic, After All**

**A/N: **_I'm actually really, really happy with this one. It may be the last, I don't know, I'll give it some thought. But anyway, please review and feel free to suggest something._

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming_

_or is this burning an eternal flame?_

**Tequila is not like Oil **

He was aware that, somewhere – in some level – he had woken up. However, try as he might, his eyelids weighed about two Festus and there was clearly sand in his mouth. Eventually, he had to force himself to move because the stupid birds seemed to be singing the whole three acts of _La Traviata_ right next to his ear.

He made incoherent sounds as he heeled his way through the apartment, his arms ahead of him so he could trace the place with his hand instead of his eyes.

"Buford, now would be a nice time to bring me my sunglasses." He managed a few words. They didn't come out very loud or clear since Leo was still trying to understand how he could be so thirsty and so nauseated at the same time – but Buford came anyway and almost tripped him. By a miracle, he found balance and grabbed the Ray-bans Aphrodite had given him on his first quest with Jason and Piper.

He opened his eyes and immediately regretted ever getting an apartment with such a huge view of New Rome. Big Views meant big windows; big windows meant a lot of sunlight. He cursed Dionysius in Spanish as he threw himself on the living room couch.

"Well, don't you look lively and colorful today?" The female voice came from the American type kitchen counter. Leo dared look up for a second even though he knew who'd be there from the voice. He looked down again immediately.

"Reyna, be a sweetie and murder me, will you?" His voice came out muffled since his mouth was hidden in the couch. He didn't need to look at her to know she was still sitting gloriously, well dressed and looking clean as she sipped coffee from her mug.

"Granted, I could do it very quickly and painlessly, but I'm sure the two of us would not appreciate the aftermath." Leo sat up as straight as he could on the couch and grunted:

"Ugh, it's too early for your fancy vocabulary, _reina_." He said it that way; as in Spanish for "queen", instead of her name. He always complimented her the most when he was sick or in a bad mood. She never really understood why.

She handed him a mug and took a sit next to him, in silence.

"Oh, man, you've put five hundred ounces of sugar in this, haven't you?" But he was already so queasy, throwing up was almost sounding nice. He drank a big gulp from the mug and then spit half of it on the floor. "What's that? I thought it was _coffee_."

"Myth." He could tell she was shrugging. "Coffee will dehydrate you even more. A banana smoothie, on the other hand, will make you feel much better."

He decided he wasn't in position to discuss, since Reyna looked so well while he was a mess. He shut up and drank his overly sweet banana smoothie like a good boy.

They were drinking in quiet for a few minutes, Leo's back against the couch, relaxing, 'till his headache finally soothed enough for him to say:

"Is it just me or is the couch smelling really, _really_ bad?" She chuckled next to him.

"Have you even looked around the house, Leo?" He opened his eyes and dared to scan the room quickly.

"What-the-Hades-happened-here?" He was baffled: every inch – _literally_ every inch - of his floor was covered with nacho chips, colorful disposable cups and, for some reason, toilet paper. The furniture was covered in _sombreros_ in a way that his floor lamps and TV seemed to be part of a _mariachi_ band.

"They say tequila makes you forget but I didn't think you could, I mean, _you _were the one who kept yelling how no one would ever forget Leo Valdez' epic twenty-first birthday _fiesta_."

Things started coming back to him slowly. He felt his cheeks flushing in an unpleasant way.

"Why does the couch smell?"

"For the same reason it was empty enough for you to lie in it just now. Gleeson Hedge spent the night in it; he just left about an hour ago."

"Ugh, I've slept in sewers before and, honestly, it's still better than drunken goat perfume."

"One would think." Reyna smiled. Leo turned to her:

"How come you're smelling so nice and acting so clean and not hungover?" He wished he could manage to raise an eyebrow but it'd be too much pain. "I clearly, well not clearly per say, but I_ do_ remember you drinking enough wine to dance _the Macarena_ with Dakota."

"You are imagining that." She avoided his eyes. Leo cleared his throat 'till she gave up and told him the truth:

"They say sugar helps prevent hangover." She sipped from her coffee. "I think that speaks for itself."

And it did; Reyna must have spent the night munching on sugary things.

"So," he smiled. "You danced the _Macarena_, that's unusual." He was fighting a chuckle. Reyna's face hardened:

"I don't think you should be talking about what I did when you spent half the evening yelling on the top of your lungs that you were so hot you were single handedly 'causing global warming."

Leo hid his face on the crook of Reyna's neck and groaned:

"What else did I do?"

"Well, first you made your automatons all yell _"arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro" _at the same time, as some sort of countdown and then they all spilled some very expensive _Jose Cuervo_ on the poor, innocent guests."

He thought conceitedly about how he was a party master but never voiced the thought fearing Reyna wouldn't really agree.

"Then you proceeded to play this tune someone told me was from the Pokémon games on repeat and tried to force Jason and Percy to, and I don't know what you meant by it, _hydro pump_ and _thundershock_ each other."

Leo couldn't help but chuckle this time. He could almost hear Reyna roll her eyes.

"You also kept calling Frank Zhang _"Mushu_" and told Hazel at least one of them would have to "be a man"."

He left his hiding position to look her in the eye:

"Will they ever forgive me?"

"I think Frank forgave you, since he got to write some rather unpleasant messages on your forehead with a sharpie." She handed him one of the metallic spheres he used as a paper weight so he could check his reflection.

"And to think all that boy could say when I met him was "dang". I'm actually really proud of some of these words." He smirked and Reyna sighed, standing up.

"Well, you have a nice day and try to relax and recover. Unlike you, I have a lot of work ahead of me." She stretched – which was not the easiest thing to do when you are wearing an armor – and kissed his forehead.

"Wait." He held her wrist."What about you? Did I do anything to you?"

Reyna didn't show any particular reaction, she just shrugged:

"Not really, no; just the usual. We danced, we laughed, we made fun of Hazel and Jason because we were a much better couple now then they'll ever be with their fellow mates." Leo laughed. "And at some point you told everyone to be quiet, grabbed some wires from your pockets, turned them into a ring and proposed. Everyone was really emotional about it. I think I saw Gwen tear up a little."

"Oh wow. I'm quite a flashy drunk." Reyna laughed:

"That's an understatement, for sure." She patted him on the cheek and he could feel something cold brushing against his skin. "Well, I'll see you tonight."

He was left alone with his thoughts and his goat-smelling couch. It took him a whole minute before he could put the pieces together and say, to no one in particular since Reyna had already left:

"Wait a minute, you said _yes_?"

* * *

_Reviews are the only things keeping me alive. Ok, not really, but do leave a review and, hey, make suggestions, grab my heart, USE IT. I need some inspiration. _


	7. I'm the Bleeding Volcano

**Organic, After All**

**A/N: **_Ok, so I think I'm gonna do a round 10-chaptered story and I have some ideas but please, do offer things. I'm not sure I wanna go for weddings or babies, so let's try some normal couply things like braiding her hair or watching cartoons. Well, a little more elaborated than that, I guess. Though I could write one about braiding hair. By the way, you should go check the song I mention in this chapter. It's on my Leyna fanmix and everything but if you haven't seen that - go for it!_

**Organic After All**

_Am I only dreaming_

_Or is this burning an eternal flame?_

**I'm the Bleeding Volcano**

Once upon a time there was a very unsettling moment in Reyna's life. It was back when she first started going into the engine room of the Argo II to spend her time.

Before that time, she'd been unhappy, yes, but she had had answers. She knew what she wanted, what she shouldn't want and how those two were basically the same thing. However, that was the past and now it was like she was someone else and this new person had very conflicting, uncomfortable ideas about what she wanted.

For some reason, she had started a harmless friendship with the Greek blacksmith. A boy would quite possibly be _the only_ polite way to describe him and yet she found herself surrounded by his bubbly yet surprisingly bitter personality more often than she should.

She liked being around his machines as well, they made her feel calm – maybe because they didn't ask anything or her, because their future didn't depend on her decisions. Reyna didn't know the real reason but she was quite sure it had something to do with the the fact that the praetor job was getting very old and exhausting.

And then, eventually, it came an even more unsettling time, when the New Person took over and, without thinking at all, placed a kiss on the boy's lips. His hair was on fire, she didn't know how to react, so she walked away to freak out by herself.

Fact was, Reyna had no experience with boys whatsoever. Well, she hardly had any experience with people in general. Besides brushing people's hair, fighting pirates and ruling a small, fake country she didn't have that many people skills. It sounds like a lot sometimes, but intimacy wasn't her strongest suit.

She had being really intimate with a person once but then the gods decided they needed a hero, erased his memories of her and threw him on the arms of a daughter of Venus.

Even that thought was making her less and less bitter everyday now and she had no idea why.

The real problem was, since the kiss, she couldn't really manage to look in Leo's face. She had no idea where things were going – she liked to pretend to be calm and collected but only because she was expecting him to go on a rant and spill it out for her.

He never did though, so she wasn't aware of anything.

And, even if she did know exactly where to go, she was pretty sure she hadn't been there before and Reyna hated not being in control.

So, all in all, she'd ruined everything with that kiss.

She had lost a companion, a place to run away from her problems and her dignity all at once. She considered just acting like the kiss was a _"Roman thing, you know? We do it all the time in parties. Haha, very European"_ but she just knew she couldn't pull it off.

Besides, did she even feel anything like that? She shook off those thoughts, it wasn't her place to think about that right now. It only made things worse.

She got up, brushed her teeth, put on her armor (both physical and metaphorical) and braided her hair. She squint her eyes at the reflection in the mirror and judged herself.

"Honestly, Reyna, you're a warrior, you should be able to face things like these upfront. Besides, if anything, you're a diplomat. Solve things!"

On her bedroom floor, Aurum and Argentum made funny noises as they played with each other.

"Oh, what do the two of you know? You're just highly technological automatic pets!" She yelled at them even though she knew it made no sense.

She sighed again and decided to pay the engine room one last visit just to make sure she had destroyed things before they started one more time.

* * *

She was used to the mayhem, that didn't surprise her in the least. However, this time, there was music and dancing. Automatons dancing, by the way, which only made everything weird.

The music was loud and, though she couldn't recognize the song, the voice was very familiar: The Rolling Stones. She walked through machines and wires and the further she got into the room, the louder the music got.

Leo's face popped all of a sudden from behind a huge scrap of metal. He was wearing security goggles and looked messy and sweaty. He smiled as soon as he saw her which she assumed would've been considered a nice thing by most girl but most girls hadn't seen Leo's unnerving smirk. He always looked as if he was about to turn you into one of his jokes.

All things considered, Reyna wasn't excited about it.

"Aha! I thought I'd never see you again." He lifted his goggles to his forehead and, for a second, she could swear his nostrils were on fire. Reyna didn't know whether or not to run. She could feel the song's beat on her heart and it made her queasy.

Leo climbed through the scraps of metal he'd been working on and approached her, smirking from ear to ear. One of his automatons rushed and offered her a chair. She hesitated before sitting down but decided it was the safest option, considering she was about to pass out from humiliation.

He stopped midway and he and some of his machines did a little play back of the song. He reached for Reyna as if to touch her and then pretend to get hurt and retreated as the lyrics went _"And when I touched her, my hand just froze"._

Reyna was starting to believe he was a little _inebriated_. And that was before she realized he was wearing a shirt that said "Team Leo".

With a single hand wave, Leo dropped the volume of the music. He stared down confidently at Reyna as she sat on her chair coyly and that, to her, summed up the whole new arrangement on their friendship.

"I found a radio on my belt today." Yes, he was definitely inebriated, Reyna thought. "It was the oldest radio I had ever seen in ages and I had no idea why it'd ever be there in the first place." He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. An automaton brought him a chair of his own. He sat down so they were eye to eye.

Reyna looked down at her knees, feeling very unlike a diplomat at the moment.

"And I thought: well, this thing is broken without repair, I don't know how it got here but it's so old fashioned, I get nothing from fixing it." He shrugged and gestured as if throwing something away. "Then, it hit a wall. And it started blasting out music."

Reyna didn't know how to respond to that either but she decided that maybe he was going for "pretending it never happened" and offered the most she could produce with what she had:

"That's interesting." He waved her off:

"No, it's not. I'm still getting to the good part." He looked around the shop nervously, as if waiting for someone to come in at any moment and then proceeded. "It started blasting out The Rolling Stone's "She's so Cold"."

It made no sense to Reyna whatsoever but she nodded anyway.

"I grabbed the broken radio and, you won't believe this, it's the same one my mom used to have in her old work shop."

Reyna finally felt like she could understand something:

"Oh, Leo, I guess that's…That's wonderful." He waved her off again:

"Still not the best part." He smirked. She felt uncomfortable again. "I have to say I was starting to get worried about you disappearing for two days…" She opened her mouth to say something but words didn't come out. Either that or Leo didn't let her speak, she couldn't be sure which one exactly. "And I kept thinking about how my mom had always told me to be more confident and how ashamed she'd be if she saw me like that."

Reyna wanted to ask what "that" meant. She wanted answers; she wanted to be in the known. She knew nothing about anything these days. She didn't open her mouth though.

"And then, all of a sudden, this radio shows up and it plays her favorite band and the song," he stopped for a second. "Well, never mind about the song. I just thought today was a good day to be a little more courageous."

She didn't feel really courageous so she didn't say anything for a long time. Leo stood up she followed suit. The chairs vanished as if they could walk on their own (which, Reyna reminded herself, was a possibility).

"Well," She sighed. "I'm delighted to hear you are feeling so well, I personally find it very – " she never got to finish her sentence, Leo had grabbed her face and pressed his lips against hers. It was harsh and awkward and their teeth crashed a little but she could swear her own hair was on fire this time.

She opened her eyes again to find his dangerous smirk playing on his face. She could swear she was another joke to him but he laughed a little nervously and said:

"The kissing thing, I think we should try and do it more often."

She really had no idea what to say so she just stood there and watched him get back to work, the song still on repeat. She could read his lips as he hummed the words.

_I'm the burning bush, I'm the burning fire__  
__I'm the bleeding volcano_

* * *

_The Goddess of Leyna blesses those who believe in leaving reviews.~_


	8. Creaks, Squeaks and Other Sounds

**Organic, After All**

**A/N:**_ Wish this one had turned out better but it's ok, I guess. Two more to go but I only have one idea. Hm. Well, keep leaving awesome reviews like the ones you're leaving. They are making me so happy! I'm so grateful!_

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming_

_Or is this burning an eternal flame?_

**Creak, Squeak and Other Unintelligible Sounds**

Regular days always started off the same way for Leo: he'd wake up, take a shower, get dressed, brush his teeth, _not_ brush his hair, eat, work on the engine room, meet with Jason to talk about saving the world, work more on the engine room, eat again, fix whatever electronic problem people in New Rome could have, go back home to find Reyna waiting for him and then realize he had been dreaming all along and that he was still in bed and needed to wake up and get on with life.

So he did it again because it was a very regular day. A Wednesday, a silly day, shoved right in the middle of the week, with nothing to look forward to. It wasn't 'till three in the afternoon that things took a different turn.

He'd been sitting on a bench at a small patio, eating an apple and cursing under his breath about the heat when Dakota, lips red from all the heavy sugary drinking, walked past him and stopped.

"Hey, what are you doing here, man?" Leo gave Dakota a confused expression before showing him the apple on his hand, as if in a "show and tell".

"_Alas,_ an apple." He said. Honestly, he'd seen Jason hit that kid in the head once, he suspected the damage had been permanent. Dakota rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's obvious. I'm asking because I thought you'd be with Reyna and everything."

"I'd think so too but she's strictly forbid me to spend over six hours of my day with her during the week. She said I was getting too clingy. Nonsense, of course, I only tried to accompany her to the thermals about five times…" He sighed. "Anyway, yadda yadda yadda I'm supposed to spend most of day fixing other people's stuff so she doesn't get a restraining order."

He found Dakota staring blankly at him. The boy was quiet for a while before managing:

"Hm, yeah, _great_, dude. But I was talking about the automatons." Leo chocked on a piece of his apple and had to spit it out before saying:

"What automatons?"

"Aurum and Argentum, of course." Leo couldn't remember ever standing up but there he was.

"What happened?"

"We were having a meeting in the parliament and then Aurum started making these weird noises and spitting out oil on everyone. Argentum went berserk right after. Reyna told us all to calm down but things were looking tough. I assumed she was going to look for you when she left but…"

"Where is she?"

"Well, I don't know. Have you tried her apartment or your engine room or—" He didn't stay there to listen to the end of the sentence.

* * *

"Why didn't you contact me?" He pretty much kicked her apartment room door open. The dogs were there, seemingly stabilized but Reyna was nowhere to be seen. He knelt down next to them and checked everything. They looked fine.

"They are ok now." Reyna appeared from behind a door, her braid completely undone and dripping oil from her hair. Her toga lay in the couch completely ripped and she wasn't wearing her armor anymore. Just shorts and shirt, both covered in grease and dirt, as well as a little singed. "There was no need to call you. I know how to handle these things." She was drying her hands – that she had just washed by the looks of them – with a piece of cloth.

"But they are heavy. You crossed New Rome with them haywire? How did you do it?"

Reyna shrugged.

"Put one on my back and carried the other." She sighed. "They were spitting oil and it wasn't exactly a clean job but I was too high on adrenaline to care." She put the cloth aside and set on the floor next to robotic dogs.

"It wasn't anything really. Au had swallowed some dirty oil from a street - he'll be puking it for a while still - and Argie got a little preoccupied, that's them for you. If one goes crazy, the other one tags along." She petted their heads but looked like an angry mother rather than anything. Leo sat next to her on the floor.

"You look awful." He pointed out.

"Thank you." She smirked. He reached out for her face and rubbed a little black oil stain off her cheek.

"You sure you don't want me to check on them?"

"That'd be lovely of you but there's no hurry. I fixed what had to be fixed. I may not be an expert but I've had automatons for ages now, I know these things. I know a little creak and squeak myself." She smiled at him and Leo nodded.

"You crossed New Rome with two haywire automatons spitting oil on you. They could have harmed you, not to mention the humiliation."

Reyna didn't say anything for a while.

"I suppose so, but…" She looked at the dogs again. "For a long time, they were all I had and, well, they are family to me. I was way more worried about them than I was about my image, right?"

Leo smiled. Reyna looked terrible – if that could ever be said about Reyna. There was oil all over her face, she was sweaty, her hair was messy, there were some nasty cuts all over her arm – probably Argentum's work, yet she had stood there and taken care of the automatons.

Today had started out as an ordinary day but as he watched her stare at her pets, he was taken by a sudden heaviness on his chest.

"I love you." He blurted out before there was any time to think. Reyna's head turned to him in a swift motion and she must have been really shocked 'cause he had never seen so much emotion on her face before.

There was a moment of silence.

Aurum spit a whole geyser of oil on their faces.

Argentum barked so loudly he might as well be dying.

Things went crazy all at once.

Reyna laughed.

Of all things, for the first time ever, Reyna laughed. Not chuckled, not giggled – she threw her head up and down as she guffawed, going purple in the face, tears in the corners of her eyes. Leo wasn't exactly understanding but he laughed uneasily, not sure to take offense or not. She got a glimpse of him and tried to find her voice.

"No, no – that's not it, I just…" She couldn't stop but she grabbed his arm to catch his attention. "I'm not laughing at you. I just…It's just that you said it and it was nice and then Aurum." She was holding her stomach with her free arm. Leo rolled his eyes.

"So you _are_ laughing at me." She laughed more and he chuckled too. "Go take a shower, Reyna, I'll fix them." He started searching his tool belt but she still had hold of one of his arms. She pulled him and placed a kiss on the corner of his lips before standing up.

"Thanks." And then she added in a whisper. "And I love you too."

He could've burst into flames but he was too busy saving his girlfriend's family.

* * *

_I just love myself some pet automatons~~ Also, I do love reviews._


	9. Anything but the Roman Way

**Organic, After All**

**A/N: **_This one is so corny, I may have accidentally given birth to a rainbow. Reyna has emotions on this one so beware. haha Seriously though, one more to go and that's it! Oh my!_

**Organic, After All**

_Am I only dreaming_

_Or is this burning an eternal flame?_

**Anything but the Roman Way**

As Reyna reached for her keys – and Leo had no idea where she kept them because he had never seen a toga with pockets – he paid attention to the fact that her cheeks were red and her lips were dry. The cold weather was really getting to her and it was easy to tell by her mood lately.

"I'm not into cold." She had said earlier. Clearly, he had thought, that was his cue to curl his arms around her and say "Yeah, I know you like hot things". He was wrong and very lucky to have escaped alive.

"What are you looking at?" She glared at him with such fierceness that he dodged his eyes immediately. She sighed, exasperated and went back to patting her armor, looking for her keys. Leo was starting to worry about her mood swings. She had blamed on the cold weather but still –

"Reyna, can I just – " He never finished his sentence. She found her keys and opened the doors and then, everything was covered in flowers.

_Shitloads _of flowers.

"Uh,Rey…" He started to speak he didn't really know how to end that line. Nothing he could think of would explain the shower of roses, narcissuses, tulips, orchids and the overwhelming perfume on Reyna's living room.

"Ugh." She slapped her forehead as she walked in. "It's that time of the year again."

"What time of the year?" He followed her inside. "And should I be worried? Or are you going to propose to me 'cause I'd be d- " She glared at him again. Leo was starting to believe he'd never manage to finish a thought again.

"How do they even _get_ these?" She sighed throwing herself on the couch, ignoring the flowers in there. "It's the middle of winter. Where do they get so many?"

Leo didn't say anything this time, he just stood there and tried not to bother his suddenly very mean girlfriend. Reyna glanced at him and must have understood more than he was letting out 'cause she smiled tiredly and gestured for him to sit next to her.

"What time is it?" She asked as he sat. "Is it midnight yet?"

"No." He checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes or so, still."

"Ok." She breathed in and out heavily. "There's something I have to tell you, Leo." He felt his stomach drop, the time had come. She had finally realized she was too good and was dumping him for some guy who could afford to place the Babylonia Gardens on her living room.

"In fifteen minutes or so," She breathed again. "I don't want you to freak out, ok?"

Leo looked out the window and then back at her before saying:

"Areyou turning into a wolf, Reyna?" And for the first time in two weeks she looked like she was about to laugh. It didn't last long though:

"No, Leo, I am not a werewolf. You can rest reassured." She stared at the flowers. "But I _will_ turn seventeen."

I took a few seconds to sink in.

"IT'S YOUR _BIRTHDAY_?"

She shushed him and pulled him by the arm so he would calm down. When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper. Sometimes, it looked as if she was hissing:

"Whenever one celebrates a birthday in Rome, we get flowers and incense and jewels and, when you're praetor you get it from the whole town. Also, there are festivals and all these walks so people can greet me. It's a never ending drag." She sighed, looking exhausted. "I had absolutely forgotten it was tomorrow, well, _today _actually and I'm sorry I haven't told you before but I just hate it so much. And I know you'd want to have some sort of _epic fiesta_ thing and then I'd have to murder you_."_

Leo didn't know what to say, he had been planning the epic fiesta in his head for the last thirty two seconds.

"I just hate Roman birthdays. I like flowers and incense just fine but…" She gestured as to show her living room. "What am I supposed to do with all of this? Besides, it's all so sexist. Back in real Rome, women weren't even celebrated on their birthdays. I mean, there were always the orgies but…"

Leo choked uncomfortably. Reyna didn't notice.

"Point being, I'm sorry I've been in a bad mood lately. I think I just associate cold weather with the celebrations and…Well, I shouldn't take out on you." Leo opened his mouth to speak but she didn't let him. "Which is why I don't want you to be around me tomorrow." She looked at him. "Oh, look at your face, it seems like I stole you Christmas." She rolled her eyes. "My birthday isn't a big deal. Not even for me. I only know the date because Hylla mentioned once and that was after Circe's island. I didn't celebrate it for twelve years, I couldn't care less. Tomorrow will just be an overly exhausting, extremely annoying day for me so, please, don't get upset about it."

She had the pouty lips, pleading eyes thing going on and Leo couldn't really think of a good enough counter-argument so he didn't say anything. She rewarded him for good behavior with a nice kiss that smelled of hundreds of flowers. He didn't think about being left out of her birthday just then.

* * *

As guilty as she felt to ask Leo to step away from her life for a day in such a rude manner, Reyna knew there was no better option. By eight o'clock, when most of the festivities were over except for the actual party, she could swear he was mad at her. She had asked him not to approach her, of course, but she had assumed he, being Leo as he was, would at least appear at the dinner party, she could see some of the Greek campers breaking plates and yelling her name and he was nowhere to be seen. She didn't blame him of course, he was just following her request.

She excused herself from the table and no one seemed to acknowledge her presence anymore. Just one more thing she hated about these celebrations: _her attendance wasn't even necessary to them_. She rolled her eyes at the campers' antics and made her way home, dreaming about a hot bath where she could put her feet up for once.

By a miracle, the flowers from the night before hadn't been scattered by the dogs and, if anything, the apartment looked cleaner. That was her first clue.

The second was Leo sitting on the couch.

"I told you not to…"

He raised a hand.

"First of all, you should know better than to tell your five times law reoffender boyfriend to obey anything." He yawned. "Second; Roman celebrations are over, so I'm not even breaking any rules." And third, he could tell she was opening her mouth to protest already so he raised three fingers. "If you sit down, I'll rub your feet."

"I'll never let anyone rub my feet." She crossed the living room all the way to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a bath and you better be gone when I'm done. All I want to do is_ sleep._"

Leo laid on the couch as he waited for her.

In less than two minutes, she was out. Her hair down and her eyes teary.

"You prepared the bath."

He smirked and held up a flaming finger.

"Heated the water all by myself."

"I'm being so mean, aren't I? I…"

"Bath. Go." He gestured towards the bathroom. "The water won't be that good forever." She regained her composure and left.

She came out fifteen minutes later in her pajamas. This time she didn't say anything, she just sat on the opposite side to him on the couch, holding her knees, her hair turning into a dark curtain around her frame.

"Here." He handed her the wrapping. "It's not a pretty package. I don't do pretty." He chuckled. "I mean, I tried. I just found out I'm not able though."

"I can't believe you got me anything." She sighed. "I told you the whole point is that I…Oh, Leo."

"Ha! You can't say no to that, can you?" He laughed. "I went all "Son of Hephaestus" on you this time. There's no way a daughter of a war goddess is going to deny a weapon."

The dagger was small and, the more Leo looked at it, the more flaws he could find but it was still all he could've managed in one day. Even with all the eager help from his automatons.

Reyna's eyes were teary again, he could swear he saw it, but maybe it was just an illusion 'caused by the imperial gold glowing against her face. She smiled at him.

"I can't decide whether to say thank you or sorry." She finally stated. Leo shrugged:

"Then, don't say anything. I'm not being cool here. You strictly told me you wanted to rest and I selfishly imposed my presence here…"

She punched his arm lightly. It still hurt like Hades.

"Now you're just playing the victim. You know I didn't mean it like that." Leo laughed again and approached her on the couch to wrap his arms around her.

"You see right through me." He stated and she almost laughed. "It must be 'cause you're so old and wise now. I totally dig older women." She looked as if she could punch him again. He decided to change the course of the conversation. "Now, on the subject of me being selfish." He pulled a candle from his tool belt.

"You've got to be kidding me." She frowned.

"Oh, but you know I'm not." He pulled a box and took a cupcake out of it. It was golden and it looked downright weird. Leo was grinning from ear to ear. "Guess what birthday tradition the Ancient Greek people started, sweetie?"

Reyna had on the same expression she had whenever Octavian spoke but she said nevertheless:

"Blowing out candles on a c—"

"ON A CAKE! EXACTLY, MY DARLING." He pulled the golden cupcake again and placed the candle on it. He lit with the tip of his index finger. "This little thing right here is dark chocolate, nutella, m&m's, skittles, white chocolate, sugar, jelly beans, peanut butter, sprinkles, malted milk, marshmallow and basically everything I could fit that would eventually kill you of diabetes. It's quite possibly the worst thing I have ever cooked but you'll love it." He laughed. "Because you have very poor judgment. Hence you picking me."

He shoved the cupcake under her nose so she had no escape. He snapped his fingers and everything but the candle and her dagger went dark. Under the fire, the cake shone as if made of pure gold.

"Go ahead, Rey, make a wish."

Reyna couldn't think of anything else she still wanted.

* * *

_One more and I'm done. I shall miss this. Please leave a review! _


	10. Head Injury

**Organic, After All**

**A/N:** _At last, the last! It's over, oh my. Please do review. Is this the fastest I ever finished a fanfic? Is this how it feels to FINISH a fanfic? HA! _

**Organic, After Al**l

_And even though it's moving forward_

_There's just the right amount of awkward_

_And today you accidentally_

_called me baby_

**Head Injury**

It was Frank Zhang, of all people, who said it and, Leo thought, if you need a clumsy son of a sanguinary war god to tell you where your love life is going, then you probably also need to work on some issues.

* * *

There were so many things that fascinated him, he was constantly overwhelmed by it all. The length of her lashes, her collar bones, the pale neck that her side braid would let exposed whenever she turned her back on him, the funny shape of her full lips, the fact that her cheeks were often sun burnt for no apparent reason and, his favorite of all; the bra strap that would appear whenever she couldn't tie her toga properly. He spent so much of his day focusing on these details, he liked to believe he was putting his ADD to good use.

She'd notice, every once in a while, his eyes boring in her direction. She'd feel uncomfortable, roll her eyes, ask him to get back to work. He didn't act coy though, he just laughed and cut her protests with some comment that was probably meant to be funny. She'd roll her eyes again. It was a pattern of theirs.

There was something to be said about this new situation they found themselves in. Leo would sometimes tiptoe around her, not sure how to proceed. All he could remember was a blur – he'd been so high on adrenaline that day, his memory failed him. He remembered kissing her, being awfully clear in a way he was definitely not used to and, for some reason, dancing for her. He just didn't remember the exact order of things and what part exactly of all that had made her, you know, want to kiss him back.

And that was the most marvelous part, he considered. Not exactly that she kissed him back – though that _was_ glorious - but because that meant he was allowed to kiss her.

He had said that time "we should do it more often" but he soon realized Reyna just wasn't exactly affectionate; at first, he kicked himself in regret, coming to senses as he remembered who he was and how out of his league the praetor was. But then, it changed.

They were just leaving the engine room, one day after the embarrassing kissing and dancing and he was just starting to doubt the old radio was a sign from his mother. He dared to glance in her direction and, to his surprise,met her gaze. Even though she didn't show any emotions, she said:

"We should go get some hot chocolate." She didn't ask. Reyna wasn't one to ask for things.

"Uh-" And, as he was still elaborating an answer, she reached out her hand and took his.

"Watch out." She said, raising their fists so he could see his smoking hand. Leo retreated and flushed.

"I'm sorry." He said, flustered.

Reyna did that thing she always did where she doesn't smile but still looks like as if she does. And she didn't say anything; she just took his hand again. It was then that he understood that it couldn't always be like this: Reyna was making an effort to make him feel safe and he knew she already had too many people to look after.

He pressed his fingers tightly around her hand and didn't let go even after they reached the coffee shop.

* * *

Most things were off limits in public, he knew that without her ever having to say it. He could hold her hand and they could talk and sit together in cafes and in city benches as he played with her hair and it was ok to play fetch with the dogs but she was still a praetor everywhere they went, so there were lines he couldn't cross.

Everything else, he found out eventually, was his to take as long as they were on their own. The sense of permission, he realized, was exactly what left his heart so jumpy all the time in those first weeks.

They had been on her apartment drinking some awfully sweet coffee because he was still not intimate enough to offer her to brew some himself, when she stood up and started doing the dishes. His brain was working on a billion different things when he noticed a lipstick on the kitchen counter.

"I didn't take you as the "chili red" type of girl." He commented reading the color name on the label. "You're always so discreet about everything."

"Oh, _that_." He didn't even notice the water stop running, let alone her approaching him from behind. Sometimes she moved so lightly, it was like walking with a ghost. "I found it today on a drawer." She shrugged. "I think it survived my quest to find Camp Jupiter."

She took the lipstick from Leo's hands and studied it in silence for a while before scowling:

"Lost most of my old clothes, all the money I carried and, by the end of it, I only had a plain pocket knife as a weapon but, somehow, the silly lipstick made it."

They exchange a look and chuckled.

"Well, I think the color would look _dashing _on you." He smirked and pulled a pocket mirror from his tool belt. She raised an eyebrow but took the lipstick lid off anyway and applied the deep shade of red on her lips.

They stood there in silence for a while and, again, he could feel himself getting distracted by the details. However, instead of rolling her eyes at him, she leaned forward and held his head with both her hands, kissing him, red lips and everything.

He put his hands on her waist and was suddenly very aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing her armor that day. He felt the cotton of her purple hoodie as he pulled her closer. It was different from other times, it didn't feel awkward at all and, for the first time, it felt like it'd never end, in opposite to the quick, harsh kisses they had exchanged before.

Everything else was very quiet, as in slow motion. It wasn't something he understood – ADD and everything - but, for once, his brain didn't seem to be in a hurry. The kiss tasted way too sweet, like the coffee.

They parted and everything remained still, his arms still around her, her hands still on his face. The first thing he noticed was the smudged red lipstick on the corner of her mouth. He chuckled, she smiled.

"You are_ very_ warm." She said matter-of-factly. Leo laughed and pulled her even closer.

"Yes, that might be an issue." He said, taking in the jasmine scent from her hair. She tittered and he could feel her whole body tremble, her heat beat against his.

He was taken over by many things then; the fact that he could just kiss her, embrace her and be with her and that it'd be ok because she wanted him to – that was very, very overwhelming and, honestly, took most of his mind at that time. But there was something else too. An idea that had just started shaping inside his head and that, suddenly, hit him in the face.

Reyna was _human_. Made of flesh and bones and something that smelled really, really nice. She was soft and small – well, not small for him, but small nevertheless. He paid attention to her heart for a while more.

And then he kissed her again.

* * *

It was Frank Zhang, of all people, who said it and, Leo thought, if you need a clumsy son of a sanguinary war god to tell you where your love life is going, then you probably also need to work on some issues.

He had been sitting on a bench, reading a book half- heartedly as he watched Leo play catch with Aurum and Argentum. They were engaging into light banter when Leo threw a little too strongly.

Reyna, who was just approaching them – unnoticeable as usual – hardly missed the ball. The three of them stood quiet, eyes wide open, feeling the weight of the accident they had just avoided for a second 'till Frank, too shocked to think, blurted out:

"Dude, you've gotta pay attention! You almost hit your girlfriend!"

They fell quiet again. That was one accident they didn't manage to avoid.

Frank was slowly turning purple. Never in a billion years would he have said that, but he wasn't thinking. It wasn't like nobody had ever seen the two of them around town, but it was still a touchy subject for everyone. No one had ever brought it up in conversations, that's for sure. And using the "g" word was way too much even for Piper or Jason, let alone for poor Frank. Leo could tell by his face that he was considering turning into a bug and running away.

He turned to Reyna who was staring at him, wide eyed and speechless. He didn't blame her though, he was pretty sure his expression wasn't much different.

The dogs danced around her legs, making a lot of noise. She sighed, her thoughts finally getting back to earth:

"No need to worry, Frank Zhang." She picked the ball from the ground and threw it in a perfect curve to Leo. Aurum and Argentum barked and ran towards him.

"My boyfriend missed." She said with a smile full of white teeth.

Leo didn't dodge the ball at all.

* * *

**A/N: **_Ok, it's over. I think we've come full circle, haven't we? I think the stories connected ok. I added some touches like changing the last one-shot quote before the chapter and I think it ended ok. Even though I'm not sure I'm satisfied. Well, now that I have proven that I can actually finish a fic, we can all celebrate. Anyway, don't forget to review or pm or anything. Writing this has been a please and you all left the coolest, nicest reviews! I love them all even if I don't always reply! Anyway, which one were your favorites? How did you like this one? Tell me everything! I'm so excited it's finished!_**_  
_**


End file.
